ICW Mile 714: St. Marys River Inlet, Florida
Shelly Prepping the Mainsail Halyard at Sunset While Underway
This afternoon we completed our longest passage yet and made it all the way to Florida! Well, actually we aren’t technically anchored in Fla. tonight, but just over the border in Georgia. We completed a 160 mile offshore passage between Charleston and St. Marys River inlet, the border between Georgia and Florida. Had we turned left at the inlet we would be anchored in Florida, but instead we turned right and anchored in a more promising spot in Georgia.
Our 30-hour passage allowed us to shortcut 250+ miles of some of the more difficult ICW sections in Georgia due to it’s winding path, large tidal changes (up to 9 feet), hurricane damaged marinas and high currents (in addition to the ubiquitous ICW bridges, traffic, etc.). One guy warned us that you would travel for an entire day in the Georgia ICW and end up only a stone’s throw away from where you started that morning because of the winding nature of the route here. We’re glad to miss that part.
Last night’s sail was a bit different in that we were crossing several busy shipping channels. We had to maneuver a couple of times in the darkness to avoid thousand-foot long ships entering or leaving the Savannah River. Our course kept us at least 30 miles from the actual channel but many ships arrived or departed in the night to all points on the compass, two of which crossed our paths within a mile. AIS is invaluable, though we could at least see the lights on these juggernaughts.
As seems to be the usual case, the most difficult time was at about 3:30 a.m. when the wind shifted and intensified, gusting to over 20 knots. I’ve discovered that when the wind starts to whistle through the wires of Good Karma, it is blowing greater than 18 knots and it’s probably time to make adjustments. I was trying to manage everything on my own so that Shelly could sleep (it was only her second hour of sleep that night) and was successful. We are both getting much better at single-handing the boat though we have made a few safety rules about actions we will not do alone, one of which is to go forward out of the cockpit (especially at night) without a tie-in or the other of us monitoring for problems.
I have been titling the posts for this section of the blog as ICW mile marks though we really haven’t been in the ICW for the last 410 miles. And why should we be? This is a blue water sailboat, made for sailing in the ocean, not traversing these freakin’ canals! Yesterday we saw so many dolphins we lost count and when we’re able to sail on a good wind it is smooth and peaceful. We’re pretty happy to be out of the ICW and getting our first taste of overnight passages, though it has been exhausting. As with anything new, the more we learn and experience, the easier it becomes.
One of the best lessons on these long overnight passages is that Good Karma is one hell of a sailboat. Tough, sturdy, sleek and maneuverable. I am certain she will never fail us.
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